The invention relates to a vehicle data acquisition system and method for the analysis of vehicle conditions having a vehicle-external communication device, a vehicle-internal communication device, a vehicle-external computer and a vehicle-external databank.
In the case of a known method of transferring vehicle and service data, these data are transmitted to the vehicle manufacturer for the purpose of a product analysis only when the vehicle stays in the shop for various repair work. Since newer vehicles are taken to a repair shop with decreasing frequency, these data are often quite old and therefore not very informative.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an informative vehicle data acquisition system and method. This object is achieved by a vehicle data acquisition system and method for the analysis of vehicle conditions having a vehicle-external communication device, a vehicle-internal communication device, a vehicle-external computer and a vehicle-external databank. On the basis of the data in the vehicle-external databank, the vehicle-external computer identifies those vehicles which have a first characteristic profile. The vehicle-external computer queries vehicle data from the identified vehicles by way of the vehicle-external and the vehicle-internal communication devices, and the vehicle-external computer evaluates the queried and received vehicle data for the analysis of vehicles having the first characteristic profile. Advantageous further developments of the invention are described herein.
An aspect of the invention consists of the fact that, on the basis of the data in a vehicle-external databank, a vehicle-external computer, particularly one controlled by the vehicle manufacturer, identifies those vehicles which have a first characteristic profile. According to the invention, the vehicle-external computer queries vehicle data from the identified vehicles by way of the vehicle-external and the vehicle-internal communication device. The vehicle-external computer then evaluates the queried and received vehicle data for the analysis of vehicles having the first characteristic profile. This permits a targeted and, in addition, rapid product analysis. The identification of the relevant vehicles preferably takes place on the basis of their vehicle identification numbers (“VIN” numbers). For reasons of data security, the data transmitted by the vehicle are preferably made anonymous so that they can be assigned to no concrete vehicle of the queried group of vehicles having the first characteristic profile.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of one or more preferred embodiments when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.